


Mort

by appending_fic



Series: Fire and Wonder [10]
Category: Big Hero 6 (2014), Coraline (2009), Gravity Falls, Mystery Skulls Animated, ParaNorman (2012), Sen to Chihiro no Kamikakushi | Spirited Away, The Lost Room (TV)
Genre: Gen, Predestination, Sacrifice, Screw Destiny, maze, oracular pronouncements
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-05-12
Updated: 2017-05-12
Packaged: 2018-10-30 23:56:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 4,370
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10887573
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/appending_fic/pseuds/appending_fic
Summary: In South America, every path leads to the death that is the fate of every living thing, but those seeking to hunt Destiny find the path more difficult than they'd expect. But even so, how do you defeat someone who knows exactly what you're going to do?





	1. Chapter 1

"You might have considered making it a little easier to find you."

The mother laughed, while the crone narrowed her eyes at Coraline.

"Tread carefully, pray," the youngest said. "These are days of madness, and we might forget our purpose in the face of gross disrespect."

"Oh, disrespect? She didn't mean that. It's just how young people are - all ironic detachment. After all, didn't she come to you, in your lovely home beneath the earth? The Three Graces?"

"Flattery will get you-"

"Anywhere you wish to go," the mother interrupted with a broad wink. "But come along, let's not waste their time. They're here on a very serious mission."

"We can't defeat Cipher for you," the crone snapped. "We do not _kill_ , except those who stand between us and our chosen prey."

"Fratricide and Sororicide though he may be," the youngest interjected.

"Clever that you come here to beg our aid, though," the crone muttered. "To ask us to spill the blood you not dare to, for fear of our cries of vengeance."

"Wait, wait a minute," Coraline interrupted. "Why would you even want to face Cipher? He killed the other spirits-"

The mother threw her head back and laughed. "Oh child! Do you not know who we are? The primal spirits of retribution! Those who punish oath-breakers and those who spill their family's blood. _Elder gods_. We formed the seals that held the Chimerae and the first laws, that of blood for blood."

"In short, _Chaos_ wouldn't frighten us," the crone chortled.

"You say you can't defeat him, but we're still here," the cat insisted. "Asking you to turn your wrath upon one who has spilt the blood of his brothers and sisters."

"He's right, you know."

"Oh, I know," the crone muttered, pushing herself up from her table. "It's just a pain, getting out the old outfit."

"Still, you've got to admit it's an exciting concept. We never _fought_ them, back then. They were creatures of chaos, but they knew the law."

"You have to wonder if Bill Cipher isn't all that bright."

"Oh, never mistake a man as foolish just because you cannot see the sense in his actions. The man who makes a stupid decision might be a fool, but also might know more than you see."

"Are - you honestly suggesting Bill Cipher murdered his siblings _specifically_ to get the f - Graces to try to murder him?"

"His thoughts are twisted as a nest of brambles, as twisted as the path to him has been - branching and full of thorns."

"Nevertheless," the mother said. "We will find him. We will hound him."

"But you must do your part," the youngest said with a wave of her finger. "We will not fight him alone."

"You must go back to where it all began," the crone added.

"To Mount Rushmore?"

"To Gravity Falls."


	2. Chapter 2

The answer turned out to be Hiro Hamada and his brother Tadashi; the rest of their friends were still helping Asia rebuild. Neither of them could say where Baymax was, but were quite expansive on what else they were up to. Having heard Desire’s insistence that she was killing Chimerae, Mabel was unsurprised to hear that Destruction was dead. As the only one to have turned against Bill, his death seemed expected, in retrospect.

“At least you’re running out of Chimerae to fight,” Tadashi offered.

Mabel shrugged, because there were a lot of worries bouncing around her head about that. The biggest one was that they _weren’t_. She supposed the other Chimerae were staying out of this fight to allow the Ciphers their chance to kill her, but even if they took out Bill, there would be an army left to fight.

And then of course, there was Bill himself. Beating him was the big if, especially with the knowledge that Dipper may have been working with him. As devastating as having that confirmed would be, it would also make things much harder. Dipper had picked up a witchcraft that relied on psychology and leverage, and that meant if he’d turned against them, he could push at their strengths to make them weaknesses, burrow into the secrets they’d shared with him, and generally destroy any defense they’d be able to muster.

She wished Grunkle Stan were still here.

But wishing was pointless, nowadays. All they had was the determination to keep going, no matter what. And right now, that would take them to the forests of South America, where Destiny held sway. They approached the coast and even managed a landing on a wide beach, where Hiro and Tadashi joined them in packing for the journey.

“The others have got the clean-up effort well in hand,” Hiro explained. “And in the end, this is more important than just cleaning up after the Chimerae we’ve defeated. If we can’t take out the others…” He shrugged. “This whole thing would be sort of pointless, right?”

“Yeah.” Mabel was the first one off of the plane; she paused at the first step as the humidity struck her. It took a moment before she realized it was more than that; just behind her, Norman paused, staring at the forest, and Mabel knew he felt it too. The air - well, the atmosphere was oppressive. There was a sense of pressure, and more than that, _attention_. It seemed that Destiny was the sort to pay close attention to his domain, making a stealthy approach highly unlikely.

“What’s the hold-up?” Arthur demanded from behind.

“They are assessing whether Destiny is likely to attack us immediately, or is merely content to watch. Fate is often like a spider, Mabel, content to wait for his prey to find him. After all, the longer he watches, the more he’ll know about us when we finally meet.”

“Sounds about right.” Mabel let out a huff of air and stepped out onto the beach. “I wish one of these would just be easy, you know?”

“It won’t be. This is the big one.”

Mabel glanced back at Norman, whose eyes, as they often were nowadays, were unfocused. “Norman?”

“The spirits know. Bill’s siblings - Bill himself - are the...big kahunas. The children of Chaos. There’ve been a million little battles between mortals and the lesser Chimerae, but this...if we win, that’s _it_. We’d have proven we can take on _Cipher_.”

“So it’s not going to be easy,” Tadashi murmured. “And we don’t have the luxury of failing a hundred times before we get it right. We have to win three more times, and all they need is for just one of these three to win.”

“Lucky we’ve got the practice,” Mabel said cheerily. “Just hit them with a one-two, ripping out their weird magical core things, and it’s done.”

“It’s not going to be that easy. Destiny's twisted fate around him so he can’t be defeated."

"I didn't get here by listening to what people told me was impossible," Tadashi muttered. "Come on, let's go."

The beach ran up against the edge of a thick forest, largely impassable except for a single path that cut through it, just barely wide enough to admit one person. They paused in a half-circle around the foot of the path.

"I don't like it," Arthur growled.

"Fate has got his eye on us regardless, so it won't matter what path we take."

"If you're so certain, then how about you take the lead?"

Norman glanced at everyone else. Mabel shrugged, because she had no idea how to proceed. Finding no other objections, Norman took the lead. Mabel, however, stepped up behind him.

The going was easy, at first, until a few hundred yards in, when the path split in two.

"Any thoughts?"

Norman stared at the two paths, worrying at his bottom lip, before shrugging and taking the right branch. A hundred yards beyond that, the path split, and then again, and again…

Ten minutes later, Arthur dropped to the packed dirt below them. "This is ridiculous. We don't have any idea where we're going."

"We could try checking another branch…" Mabel glanced back at Hiro when his voice trailed off, and her heart skipped.

Though they had crossed a dozen crossroads on the way to their current position, a single unbroken tunnel through the trees stretched behind them.

"I think...someone else should take the lead," Norman said, voice shaking.

"I'll give it a try." Mabel gently pushed Norman behind her and took the lead. She closed her eyes a moment, trying to sense the mind of Destiny. For a few moments, she could feel nothing but the oppressive sense of watchfulness. She gritted her teeth and _pushed_ , meeting intense resistance until it suddenly wasn't there anymore. It was like falling in a dream, complete with the sudden stop when she came back to herself, eyes snapping open.

"You okay?"

"Fine." Mabel wiped a line of sweat from her brow. "I think I've got a bead on him."

And for a time, it seemed she did. Among the oppressive awareness was that spark of a mind, and a sense of distance. By focusing on that, Mabel tried to pick turns that drew her closer to that sense of mind. Each turn, each bend, seemed to be bringing them to Destiny.

And then...they stopped getting closer. Every turn seemed to be the right choice, but the sense of Destiny remained out of reach. She eventually stopped at a fork straddling a small pond; looking at each path suggested no hint of which was the right way.

"Mabel?"

She shook her head at Hiro's question. "That's it. I'm done. We're going in circles, I think. Anyone else want to try?"

"Yeah, I got it." Hiro edged past Mabel and began moving. At first, he seemed to move randomly, although he stopped to mark the ground of each branch they walked. But Hiro deliberated at each fork, suggesting he was trying something mathematical out. He stopped just short of half an hour, though. "It's no good. We should have re-crossed one of our paths by now."

"Then let me take a shot."

Hiro glanced back at Tadashi and shrugged. "I don't see much of a point."

"Well, you each tried following your threads, so give me a chance to follow mine."

"Why not? We've been walking in circles anyway."

Wait.

"Tadashi, what did you say?"

"I wanted to follow my thread."

"...What thread?"

"My thread," Tadashi repeated. "Obviously you can't see _mine_ , but you've each had a shot at your own."

"And what do you mean by 'thread'?"

Tadashi waved at the right branch of the path. "It looks like a gold thread. You've actually been following it this whole way, but…" He shrugged. "Well, maybe it's just a matter of perseverance."

"No; I wasn't following any thread," Mabel replied. "Hiro? Arthur? Norman?"

"I was _trying_ to use a theoretical non-connected maze-solving algorithm."

"Relying on my second sight."

"I was guessing."

"Well, I suppose everyone deserves a chance to fail at navigating this maze. Go to it."

They reshuffled the group to leave Tadashi at the front, and started off again. He moved more confidently than any of they had, presumably because he was following a clear path, instead of trying to work out a strategy.

What exactly that strategy was escaped Mabel. Something impossible had happened to Tadashi, and it seemed to have left a mark on him. Something related to Destiny, it seemed, although what she couldn't fathom. He could see the path of his own future, and she wondered, if it was a good idea to follow it.

For a few minutes, nothing seemed different. And then they stepped out of the forest, light blinding Mabel momentarily. Tadashi got a few steps ahead before Mabel could start moving again, and then she marveled. They were among the foothills of a mountain, its surface set with winding, branching paths. To the right, the forest gave way to a marsh mapped by the same mazelike paths.

Tadashi turned up the mountain, easily picking branches that faded as they passed them, leaving a single path stretching behind them. Halfway up, he turned back down, and their path became a worn dirt line among short grasses.

They turned along a new branch and then Mabel ran into Tadashi.

"Hey, what gives?"

"I think...we're here."

Sitting in front of them was a clearing, one Mabel hadn't noticed until they were right on top of it. Given the nature of the maze they'd been following, it shouldn't have been a surprise.

Still, an entire sitting room, complete with half a dozen upholstered chairs, a coffee table, and a steaming tea set, should have been noticeable from a little further away.

A figure shifted and Mabel cast aside her pondering. A figure in a grey cloak and hood sat on one of the chairs, a thick black notebook setting beside it on a square table. It tilted its head at their approach, and a chuckled filled the space between them.

"So you've arrived. The downfall of my siblings at last has come to me."

"Yeah, we have." Mabel stepped around Tadashi and reached out a hand to Destiny. "We don't have to fight, you know. Destruction-"

"Was set upon by that which is consuming the empty shells you leave behind you. No, to submit to you, in spirit or in fact, would spell my doom." Destiny lifted his head, revealing blind grey eyes set in a vaguely humanoid face. "It is well, then, that this will be a short meeting." He reached to the side, picking up his book, and snapped it open. "You see, each of us has our bailiwick, the means by which we will destroy all who stand in our way. Mine is simple: it is the fate of all mortals to die. All I need is a name, and I may bring that fate to them." He reached to his side again, dipping a claw-tipped finger into a pot of ink. "Now, I'm afraid I never caught your middle name, Miss Pines."

"Yeah, like I'm going to tell you _that_ ," Mabel snorted. "I _know_ this story - although I wonder why you need our names to do it. Was your sister the real shinigami?"

Destiny stretched, setting the book aside as he stood, a wolf's paw slipping out from the cloak, tails twisting and tangling behind him as he drew closer. "I do not need that little ritual to see mortals to their doom, Miss Pines. We can do this by tooth and claw, as I did in the beginning, when we were begotten of our mother. You will not win. I see the threads of those who have yet to meet their ultimate fate, and may tug and bend them to my will. And once you have met your doom...I may not be harmed by the dead." Mabel hopped back when a talon sliced through the air where she'd been standing a moment before. "So who will destroy me, Mabel Pines, if neither the living nor the dead may do so?"

"Hamada Tadashi."

The Chimera's head snapped up, and behind her, Mabel heard a pained gasp from Hiro. "No."

A smile, toothy and unsettling, spread across Destiny's mouth. "Well. If you would offer yourself up to me, I will not decline." The book was suddenly in Destiny's talons, and the ink-tipped claw began scratching across an open page. "Tell me, in your last moments, Mr. Hamada, where would I have heard that name before?" It finished the name with a flourish. "There is no need if you are not inclined, but-"

"Your sibling brought me back from the dead to bring about the end of the world."

Destiny's beak snapped close with a quiet click. "Impossible. You were to be lent back your life! Forty-four hours, no more, no less." He began to flip desperately through his book, blind eyes somehow taking in the writing within it.

But Mabel remembered seeing Dipper standing on the stage, all those months ago, struggling against the power Desire had used to raise the dead and open the way for the other Chimerae. He couldn't have had the power to stop it, but he'd learned his magic from an edge witch, and surely he'd seen ways to shift the balance of the magic, to give someone a life, instead of a second death.

Maybe he'd known Destiny couldn't be defeated by those who had never died, and couldn't be defeated by those who were already dead.

Maybe he hadn't betrayed them after all.

Destiny snarled and lunged at Tadashi with a growl.

"I will not be defeated by a child!" But then Arthur was between Tadashi and Destiny, metal arm raised to catch the Chimera's claws, and whatever Doctor Facilier - Desire - had done when he reforged Arthur's robot arm, it was enough to allow him to toss the Chimera aside.

His book, tossed aside as he lunged at them, came to rest at Tadashi's feet. And as Kohaku shifted from boy to dragon, snarling as he circled Destiny, Arthur behind him, metal fist gleaming dangerously in the misty light, Tadashi picked up the book.

"Go ahead," Destiny snarled. "You are a man without a fate. If anyone could write my name in that book, it is you."

Tadashi opened the book to a page, almost at random, and stared at it, reading, possibly, the words set in it. Or maybe he was thinking, because his mouth was set in a line, soft, serious.

"If you die, who becomes Destiny? Who inherits the power that consumes you?"

Something like a grin twisted Destiny's beak. "That is the curse of my power. The book will pass from one set of hands to another. The fateless will take it up and become the herald of that one fate none may escape, even us."

Tadashi's face twisted into a scowl, either at Destiny's words or something written on the page before him. "You mean...that's how things are supposed to be." He reached up to his heart, tugging at something in the air there. And then he turned to Destiny, face set as he tugged at the air harder. "If I am fateless, I don't have to take your mantle to destroy you. If I am fateless, you cannot tell me what my future holds. Either I have to do what you say I do, or I really am fateless."

With a sharp yank, he pulled his arm free, earning a gasp from Destiny.

"You can't-"

"You said you can manipulate the threads of fate! So they can be moved! And I am fateless, so why should my thread tell me what to do? It says I'm supposed to kill you, and take your book. Instead…"

Tadashi produced something from his pocket, and with a flick of his wrist, a flame danced in front of the book.

"No! You _can't_!"

"If I'm fateless like you say, I can do anything I want."

And Tadashi set the lighter to Fate's book.

Destiny howled, falling to his knees as he watched his book burn with blue fire. As the fire licked along the spine, setting burning pages spiraling away from the book, he collapsed totally, body wracked with keening sobs.

"Oh, can it," Arthur muttered. The crying died away, leaving them standing in an awkward silence in the South American woods.

"Look, I know he's an irredeemable monster," Mabel offered, "but I don't feel great leaving him behind. If Bill-"

"Oh, leave me," Destiny croaked with a dark chuckle. "He will find me if he will, and nothing you can do will stop it."

"It doesn't have to be that way," Tadashi said, taking a hesitant step forward. "It doesn't have to be _any_ way."

"There are some things that don't need second sight to see, and my brother will find me as certainly as you will go to him."

"Before," Norman piped up, "What did it say the outcome would be?"

"What hope would any of us have before Bill Cipher, greatest of the Chimerae? Only our mother could have matched him, and she could only survive in the time before time."

"Yeah, but we've got friends in high places now," Mabel said. "And their friends, you know - I always say, any friend of a friend is my friend, too. We beat Death, and Destruction, and Destiny."

"So perhaps, you have a chance."

"Chance, shmance. Come on, let's blow this popsicle stand."

"Where to?" Hiro asked.

"Where it all began," Mabel replied. "Gravity Falls. Whatever's been going on with him, my brother's going to be at the heart of what's happening in North America. And once we've got that sorted…

"Bill Cipher won't know what hit him."


	3. Chapter 3

Destiny was seated on one of his chairs when Bill arrived, the charred remains of his little book sitting in his lap.

"Hello, Brother."

"Destiny! Hey! I see they beat the magic out of you. But it's not like you were surprised, right?"

Destiny didn't reply. Annoyed, Bill skittered closer to him. "Hey, you're not sulking, are you? You knew how this was going to work out from the beginning! From our ascension to those kids running around beating all of you-"

"To you killing us at our weakest moments. Yes. I know what you've been doing, Dream. What you hope to accomplish."

"And that's why I'm here, Destiny. Why I haven't killed you yet. I've seen it, but I need to _know_. It's going to work, right?"

Destiny raised his head and met Bill's gaze, a tiny smile on his lips. "Your fate leads you inexorably to your apotheosis, Brother. You will stand astride this world with the power you seek."

"Thanks, Bro." Bill stepped up and reached up to Destiny's face. "And since you know it's fate, I trust you won't blame me for what comes next…"


	4. Chapter 4

There was a diner, in a small, American town. This diner was unremarkable in every way but one.

There was a man in the diner, who sat in the booth at the end. You could always find him there, drinking a cup of iced tea and writing in a notebook. Sometimes, people came into the diner and sat at the booth with him. They would speak with him a short time, and leave. Sometimes, they became agitated, or gestured at him with innocuous objects. A pair of scissors. A deck of cards.But they always left, and the man kept writing in his book.

And today, a man entered the diner. He waved at the hostess as he walked to the booth at the end, sitting down across from the man with the notebook.

"I heard rumors," the newcomer said, "of a man who'd been collecting Objects. The Penny, the Quarter, the Wallet. And I thought to myself, 'that sounds familiar'. And I heard that man was looking for someone."

"Do you have a point?" the man who'd been sitting at the booth asked.

"I guess I sort of hoped...I was the person you were looking for," the newcomer said. "I know things didn't end well the last time we met, and part of that was my fault. And I didn't help, taking off like I did, without a word. But I missed you, Stanley. And...I'm sorry."

Stanley Pines looked up from his notebook and smiled at a face that was nearly a perfect reflection of his.

"For a smart guy, Ford, you can be a bit of an idiot. Of _course_ I was looking for you. And once I figured out where you went...and why, I knew where to find you."

Ford snorted. "And how'd you know that? _I_ don't even know where I'm going."

"Because you've always preferred to talk to people who have answers. I talked to people who had questions. And those questions led me right here. Hey! Let's play a game. Tell me what's special about this world."

"Game? We don't have time for this, Stanley."

"But we do. You know about the Objects, and that means you know about the Room."

"This game isn't going to be fun if you give away the answer," Ford retorted. "It's the Room that makes this world special - the place full of Objects that have weird powers when taken outside of the Room."

"Wrong!" Stanley leaned back in his seat, grinning. "The Objects aren't special. The Room isn't special. It's an indestructible thing with the power to warp reality. Every universe has something like that."

"Wait. Do you mean-"

"The Room's a Chimera, Ford. More specifically, it's a _dead_ Chimera."

"D - dead? _How_?"

"No clue. No one does. And frankly, it doesn't matter."

"Doesn't matter? Stanley, I don't know where you heard about Chimerae, but there's a Chimera named Bill Cipher, and he's more dangerous than you can possibly imagine. If there's a chance we can find a way to kill him-"

"However they killed this Chimera, it wouldn't work on Bill," Stanley replied. "Not to say it won't help - you know I've found a couple of the Objects. They got a power all their own when you use 'em together, you know."

"I _know_ , Stanley."

"So you find the Wallet, some coins that've been floating around, and guess what? None of the Objects - not alone, and not together - can do _jack_ to you." He stood as Ford's jaw fell open, patting his shoulder as he passed. "But hey, we're running late."

"Late? I just got here!"

"And now we're going." Stanley threw a few bills on the table. "Come on, you can meet Shermie's grandkids. Presuming they haven't been killed or whatnot."

"Grandkids? What's been going on since I left?"

"We'll catch up on the way back."

"You know, I found some powerful objects we can use to fight Cipher, too."

"I don't doubt it. But I thought to fill in the gaps - all those fancy toys won't do anything if Cipher smokes you the moment he sees you. We're probably...not his favorite people. After Shermie's grandkids, of course."

"Aren't _you_ supposed to be the reckless one?"

"I told you, we'll catch up on the way back. Come _on_ , Ford, we've got a god to kill."


End file.
